In the shipping and manufacturing industries, products are often stacked onto pallets for ease of movement. If these pallets are raised by a pallet jack or forklift for movement, the materials stacked on the pallets may fall unless somehow secured into place. This securing is commonly obtained by wrapping the full pallets with a stretch film. Stretch film is commonly available in two forms: a cored roll or a coreless roll. Cored rolls comprise a cardboard or similar tube around which the stretch film is rolled. Coreless rolls are processed without a center tube.
In use, these rolls of stretch film are secured on a device (an “application device”) that can either be moved around a pallet, or remain stationary while a pallet is moved, so that the stretch film may be wrapped around the pallet. An issue with these application devices when used with coreless rolls is that it is difficult to properly secure the stretch film roll while applying the film and slippage may occur, causing damage to the inner surface of the roll and cause the stretch film to disperse unevenly and to cause waste. Current stretch wrap application devices do not allow the full potential of coreless stretch film roll to be utilized.
As it exists on the roll, or as it is loosely unfurled, the stretch film is in it's unstretched state. When used to initially wrap products, the film is pulled taut and a modest amount of stretch is achieved, ensuring the wrapped items are held in place by the film. When the the products are adequately wrapped, the film is finally stretched to secure the film to itself so that it does not easily unroll from the products.
Most currently available application devices secure stretch film rolls by compressing them from the ends, and particularly in coreless rolls, this can cause tears in the film, loss of tension in the roll as it is unfurled, and slippage. Attempts to apply a force from within coreless stretch film rolls often result in snagging and tearing of the film. Each of these problems results in stretch film waste. Easyfix, a commercial application device available in New Zealand, comprises a post having retractable ridges which may be inserted into a coreless stretch film roll. These same ridges may distort the roll and may snag the inner surface of the coreless stretch film roll causing tearing and film waste.